Man shot multiple times, killed in Tenderloin

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A 26-year-old man was shot dead in the Tenderloin early Thursday morning, cops said, and the semi-automatic handgun likely used in the killing was found dumped in a mailbox a block away.

The victim was shot multiple times minutes after midnight following an argument at Ellis and Jones streets, police said. Witnesses say the victim punched one of three suspects, described as black men in their 20s, in the face. The suspect whipped out the gun and opened fire, police said.

The victim died at the scene, they said.

As the victim stumbled to the ground in the street, the suspects fled northbound on Jones Street and then westbound on O’Farrell Street, police said. The gunman chucked the weapon into a mailbox in the 500 block of O’Farrell, cops said.

Police are hunting the suspects, one believed to have dreadlocks. The assailants remain at large, police said.

The Medical Examiner’s Office said it would not release the identity of the victim until his family is notified.